Edmund De Wind VC

b. 11/12/1883 Comber, Ireland. d. 21/03/1918 near Grugies, France.

Edmund De Wind (1883-1918), son of Arthur and Margaret Jane De Wind (nee Stone), was born at Kinvara, Killinchy Road, Comber, Co Down, Ireland on 11th December 1883. His father was born in Malaya, and was a civil engineer. He had worked on the London and North Eastern Railway. He had married Margaret on 12th April 1863 at St Mary’s Parish Church, Comber. They moved to Singapore shortly after their wedding, where he was Commissioner of Public and Municipal Works until 1872. He then returned to Ireland, and later became an architect and land surveyor. Edmund had seven siblings.

Edmund was educated privately at home by a governess, Miss Riddel, before he attended Campbell College, Belfast until 1900. He began working for the Bank of Ireland as a clerk in Belfast and Cavan. He emigrated to Canada on 1st November 1911. He was working for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Edmonton when he enlisted into the 31st Battalion (Alberta), Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) on 16th November 1914. He fought with the CEF at St Eloi, Ypres and the Somme. In May 1916 he attended training on the Lewis gun as the heavy machine guns had been transferred to the Brigade Machine Gun Company. He was admitted to a field ambulance for treatment after the battle of Courcelette. He was discharged as a Private on 23rd September, following officer cadet training in England, and commissioned into The Royal Irish Rifles on 26th September 1917. He became engaged to Mary “Mollie” Robinson and made her a beneficiary of his will, as well as his two unmarried sisters. He was posted to 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Belfast in December 1917 before returning to the front to join 15th Battalion.

Edmund De Wind VC

Second Lieutenant De Wind was serving with the 15th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles in an area to the southwest of St Quentin when the Germans launched Operation MICHAEL, the first and main attack of their spring 1918 offensive.

On 21st March 1918, at the Race Course Redoubt, near Grugies, France, Edmund would perform his action which led to the VC. For seven hours he held this most important post, and though twice wounded and practically single-handed, he maintained his position until another section could be got to his help. On two occasions, with two NCO’s only, he got out on top under heavy machine gun and rifle fire, and cleared the enemy out of the trench, killing many. He continued to repel attack after attack until he was mortally wounded and collapsed.

His body was never recovered and he is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial at the Somme. It is believed he had applied to return to the Canadian Army just before his death. The delay between his VC action and the gazette date is due to the CO of the Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Claud George Cole-Hamilton DSO, being a prisoner of war and unable to make the recommendation until his return from captivity.

He was posthumously awarded the VC, one of three awarded to his Regiment in the Great War, on 15th May 1919. His medal was presented to his mother Margaret, by King George V, at Buckingham Palace on the 21st or 28th June 1919. Sadly, Edmund’s father had pre-deceased him in 1917. In Comber there is a street named after him and in Canada there is a mountain named ‘Mount de Wind’ in Alberta. A tablet to his memory can be found in Comber Parish Church. He is also named on the Campbell College War Memorial, on a pillar at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, on the VC memorial stone at Ulster Tower, The Somme, and a VC commemorative stone at The Square, Comber.

After the War a large German gun was presented to the town as a memorial to him and was placed in the Square. During the Second World War the gun was removed for scrap metal to aid the production of munitions. However, metal plates from the side of the gun containing an inscription were preserved and are now in the porch of the Parish Church in the Square.

In March 2017 the Edmond de Wind Centenary Committee announced a major series of events in memory of the VC winner, to culminate in the unveiling in March 2018 of a dedicated memorial plinth. There is already an Ulster History Circle blue plaque in his honour located at Bridge Street Link in Comber and unveiled in 2007.

In addition to his VC he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal 1914-19. His medals are not publicly held but a replica group is displayed by the Royal Ulster Rifles Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: PRIVATELY HELD.

BURIAL PLACE: POZIERES MEMORIAL, THE SOMME, FRANCE.

PANEL 74 TO 76